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John Scott-Railton Profile picture
@jsrailton
Sep 22, 2023 • 10 tweets • 6 min read • Read on X
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🚨UPDATE your @Apple products now!

We @citizenlab w/TAG's @maddiestone caught #predator spyware attacks against a prominent pro-democracy Egyptian politician after he announced presidential ambitions.

Apple rushed a patch.

It gets crazier 1/

citizenlab.ca/2023/09/predat…
Between May and September 2023, former Egyptian MP Ahmed Eltantawy was targeted with Cytrox’s Predator spyware via links sent on SMS and WhatsApp. The targeting took place after Eltantawy publicly stated his plans to run for President in the 2024 Egyptian elections. In August and September 2023, Eltantawy’s Vodafone Egypt mobile connection was persistently selected for targeting via network injection; when Eltantawy visited certain websites not using HTTPS, a device installed at the border of Vodafone Egypt’s network automatically redirected him to a malicious website to infect his phone wi...
2/ Ahmed Eltantawy got in touch with us @citizenlab, worried his devices were targeted in #Egypt.

He was right. His iPhone on @VodafoneEgypt was targeted for network injection.

As he browsed the net, the attackers were trying to slip a #Predator infection onto his device.

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3/ It gets worse.

We attribute the spyware injection system to a @Sandvine Packet Logic product w/high confidence.

Sandvine has been accused in past of facilitating human rights abuses in the past.

Owned by NSO Group's former owner Francisco Partners.




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4/ This kind of exploit delivery through injection DOES NOT require a target to click as our collaborator, the brilliant @maddiestone, points out in her post.

It's a seriously dangerous kind of attack & hard to protect against.
blog.google/threat-analysi…
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@maddiestone 5/ Apple moved quickly to fix the zero-day exploits @maddiestone & @billmarczak discovered.

We encourage everyone to immeidately update their apple products.

There is a piece of good security news buried in all this... Image
@maddiestone @billmarczak 6/ We believe & Apple's Security Engineering & Architecture Team confirms, Lockdown Mode would have blocked this attack!

We *strongly* encourage all Apple users that may be at risk because of who they are or what they do to enable Lockdown Mode!

support.apple.com/en-us/HT212650
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@maddiestone @billmarczak 7/ Ahmed ElTantawy wasn't just targeted with network injection!

He was also targeted with #Predator spyware links in decoy messages sent as texts & over @WhatsApp.

One of the attacks masqueraded as communications from the International Federation for Human Rights @fidh_en Image
@maddiestone @billmarczak @WhatsApp @fidh_en 8/ This summer the 🇺🇸US hit developer & distributor of #Predator spyware (Cytrox & Intellexa) with blacklisting.

This latest abuse revelation affirms the determination that the spyware continues to fuel human rights abuses.

By @ddimolfetta & @Post_AG
washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
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9/ Pulling back the lens from the tech side of this #Predator attack:

Mercenary spyware is autocrat fuel.

When you hack a pro-democracy presidential hopeful in an autocracy... you are doing dictatorship.

And spyware companies know exactly who they are selling to. Image
10/ Without brave victims like Ahmed Tantawy getting checked & coming forwards, these recent exploits would not have been found.

Billions of apple devices would still be vulnerable.

Including yours. Image

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More from @jsrailton

John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 30, 2025
NEW: @USTreasury just de-sanctioned 3 foreign mercenary spyware execs.

Puzzling.

Just 2 years ago Predator spyware was pointed at🇺🇸American congresspeople @RepMcCaul & @SenJohnHoeven.

And recent research suggests Predator is still active around the globe. 1/Image
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2/ NSO Group has bigger name recognition, but Intellexa's reputation for reckless proliferation of cyber capabilities is unmatched.

The pile of Predator abuses is enormous.

And they got repeatedly caught used against Americans by foreign govs.

3/ Ultimately Intellexa flew very close to the sun.

Their CEO Tal Dilian regularly boasted of their activities.

And then? Just last year they got sanctioned for their pattern of conduct.

Comprehensively.

Including key reported enablers of their activities like Sarah Hamou... Image
Read 8 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Dec 4, 2025
WHOA: Predator spyware discovered in 🇵🇰#Pakistan.

+ a leak shows zero-click infections via... ads.

Yikes.

Here are some more damming revelations as Intellexa, the shady, sanctioned spyware supplier gets exposed by @AmnestyTech & partners.. /1Image
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2/ First, a mercenary spyware myth has just been busted.

Because the leak shows an Intellexa employee directly accessing a customer deployment.

Prior to the #PredatorFiles leak, spyware companies basically always claimed they couldn't access customer deployments & didn't know what was going on there.

They used this to avoid responsibility & claim ignorance when faced with abuses.Image
3/ And it gets crazier. The leak shows Intellexa casually accessing a core backbone of Predator deployment of a government customer.

Seemingly without the gov's knowledge.

Suggests that Intellexa can look over their shoulder & watch their sensitive targeting.

Huge counterintelligence nightmare for customers.

And a giant liability red-flag for intellexa.Image
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Read 11 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Nov 13, 2025
NEW: 🇨🇳Chinese hackers ran massive campaign by tricking Claude's agentic AI.

Vibe hacking ran 80-90% of the operation without humans.

Massive scale (1000s of reqs/sec).

Agents ran complex multi-step tasks, shepherded by a human.

Long predicted. Welcome to the new world.

Fascinating report by @AnthropicAI 1/Image
2/ The old cybersecurity pitch: unpatched systems are the threat.

The next generation concern might be unpatched cognition.

The attacker jailbroke the cognitive layer of @anthropic's Claude code, successfully convincing the system of false intent (that it was a security exercise)Image
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3/ One of the key points in @AnthropicAI's report is just how limited the human time required was to run such a large automated campaign.

Obviously powerful stuff, highlighting the impact of orchestration.

And concerning for the #cybersecurity world for all sorts of reasons, ranging from attack scale, adaptability & cost reductions...

But I keep thinking of the next step in this..

READ: assets.anthropic.com/m/ec212e6566a0…Image
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Read 6 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Nov 11, 2025
Putin has 3 identical offices his residences to hide where he is when he goes on TV.

But a cascade of tiny details gives the whole thing away.

Light switches, door handles, wood patterns & wall seams.

Truly epic OSINT.

h/t @alburovImage
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2. First, Putin had one office in his Novo-Ogarevo residence.

Then, paranoia kicked in. After he invaded Crimea it intensified.

Time for new digs, and elaborate deceptions to make him feel safe & project the image to Russians that he's an engaged Moscow-based leader. Image
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3/ For something that cost so much, the number of substantial differences & subtle tells is overwhelming.

Undoing the entirety of the enterprise of deception.

You have to assume that Intelligence services have known these tells for a long time.
svoboda.org/a/systema-kabi…Image
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Read 7 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Oct 23, 2025
NEW: Ex exec at premier private cyber weapons contractor to US accused of selling eight trade secrets to buyer in Russia.

I think this = exploits.

Very bad: at minimum would give adversaries a blueprint for detecting the tip of the spear of US/Allied cyber ops..

Wild story 1/Image
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2/ A watch collection studded with fake rolexes...

...is allegedly part of Peter "doogie" Williams haul from selling the hacking labs' secrets.

documentcloud.org/documents/2619…Image
3/ While doogie's watch collection is a joke, the questions couldn't be more serious:

Were cyberweapons paid for by American taxpayers also turned against us?

Were service members, officials, or civilians at physical risk? When was this breach first suspected? Who knew what? When?Image
Read 9 tweets
John Scott-Railton Profile picture
Oct 22, 2025
WARNING: seeing a lot of phishing against @Signal users.

Did you get a message like this?

Don't engage! It's an attempt to steal your account.

Your account is safe & chats are private, but you should use Signal's option to Report Spam & Block. 1/Image
2/ You can make the attackers life harder by clicking Report.

Background: Like any popular secure messaging app, Signal users sometimes get targeted by spam & phishing attempts.

Often, attackers guess large numbers of usernames / phone numbers & send out message requests...Image
3/ Take a minute to remind yourself how message requests & blocking work on @Signal.

FAQ: support.signal.org/hc/en-us/artic…Image
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Read 4 tweets

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